


Second Chances

by thenostalgicdreamer



Series: Waiting for Dawn series [3]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 04:43:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16340051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenostalgicdreamer/pseuds/thenostalgicdreamer
Summary: Farkle reflects on the course of his life.





	Second Chances

_It was cozy and warm in the car. Riley who was driving was chattering away about something, and Farkle was listening happy to be with her. As they approached an intersection with a green light, Farkle could see that a car going the other direction was heading towards Riley’s side of the car. Everything turned to slow motion as he put his foot over to the other side of the car trying to reach the brake in time. Riley was somehow not noticing. After what seemed like an eternity, he felt the car jerk. When he opened his eyes, Riley was lying still. He touched her shoulder, and she didn’t move. She had not survived the crash._

In the early morning darkness, Farkle reached for Riley. He had to know that she was alive and well. As he felt in front of him, his fingers brushed fabric, but it was soft cotton, not the silky fabric of Riley’s tank top. His eyes opened with a start as it all came back to him. It was the soft cotton of Maya’s pajama top because Maya was the one here with him. He was married to her because Riley was gone. The car accident was a figment of his morbid imagination, but he had really watched Riley die—in a hospital room from an ectopic pregnancy gone wrong.

His breathing was heavy and his heart racing. He didn’t have as many nightmares these days as he had right after Riley died, but he still hated them. They were awful especially since he woke up grieving like he had just lost Riley again. It had been five years, and he still missed as he knew he always would, but he was happy with Maya. He no longer spent his days grieving, but the nightmares would still come along and make him feel like he was still that broken-down person grieving the loss of his wife alone. That wasn’t his life anymore. He was in love again and happily married to Maya. She wasn’t Riley, but she loved him, supported him, and brightened his days like Riley had. And he loved her too. It wasn’t like he had loved Riley; he couldn’t love anyone else like that. But she inspired his deepest loyalty, affection, and admiration. He had thought he would never feel like that again.

He moved closer to her if to remind himself that she was really there and he was not alone. “Farkle?” she asked sleepily, doubtless awakened by feeling him move.

“Go back to sleep,” he said knowing that she needed to rest. They had not gone to bed early, and she had not been sleeping well since she hit second trimester.

He could feel her eyes pop open despite the darkness of the early October morning. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

She grabbed his arm and pulled it clearly trying to tell him she wanted him closer. He settled down right next to her. “Oh, Farkle.” She reached up and brushed his sweaty hair from his face with repeated strokes. “I love you,” she said.

He found her hand and intertwined her fingers with his. “I love you too.” He had always considered himself lucky to have found the love he had shared with Riley. She had captured his heart completely and penetrated every fiber of his being and changed him slowly from the inside out. It was a love that many people died without ever knowing and to think that he had found it and so young was simply extraordinary. When Riley had died, he had believed he would never be happy again. He had spent so many years by her side; it was unthinkable that he would ever want to share his life and heart with anyone else. But in the middle of his disillusionment and despair, Maya had been there, and she felt like home in a world where he thought he didn’t recognize anything. And she didn’t leave despite the fact that she had to let her first love—art and travel—die to do it. Maya is not Riley, and she never will be. But the love they share is so special, and he’ll never stop feeling amazed to have had the chance at a second happily-ever-after.


End file.
